Baogang Group, the largest iron and steel manufacturer in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, issued a green bond focusing on carbon neutral projects in April.

The bond, the first of its kind in China's steel industry, had an issuing value of 500 million yuan ($76.5 million) with a term of five years. 

The carbon-neutral green bond was designed to carry out the concept of green development by raising funds for green carbon emissions projects and to provide special financial support to the issuer in terms of carbon emissions reduction through "computable, inspectable, verifiable" benefits.

On May 14, the group issued the planning targets to reach peak carbon by 2023 and be carbon neutral by 2050, becoming the third steel enterprise in China and the first in the region to issue such a plan.

The group would continue to develop a green, circular and low-carbon way and promote energy transformation and industrial upgrading that's aimed at reducing carbon emissions and protecting the environment. It also plans to drive the regional economy in a green way by developing green products with high added value and transforming traditional enterprises.

The group had set up a "zero-waste city" and "zero-waste zone" object into its annual plan as an important item for high-quality development. Specific goals and programs were made to achieve the object from the aspects of promoting project construction, improving smart management and strengthening waste sorting.

To establish a green manufacturing system featuring high efficiency, clean, low carbon and recycling, the group comprehensively promoted green design, and realized the coordinated development of green steel manufacturing through green product design, clean production process, efficient energy utilization, renewable resource recycling and industrial convergence integration.

To play an active role as an "Industrial Product Green Design Demonstration Enterprise," the group promoted the popularization of a product life cycle assessment (LCA), and thus met downstream users' requirements for environmental performance data for its products, and scientifically evaluated pollution and carbon emission reduction performance of green manufacturing. It also effectively responds to material competition and requirements for green market entry.

Up to now, the green area of the Baogang plant is 1,970 square meters, with a green coverage rate of 47 percent. The group is committed to improving ecological construction in surrounding areas and has carried out tree planting activities for nine years in a row on the south slope of Daqing Mountain. It had created an afforestation coverage of 1,500 mu, which formed a 2,700-meter long and 300-meter wide forest belt along the northern section of the G6 expressway.